VIRGIN Rail is to refit all the toilets on its £600m fleet of hi-tech trains - because passengers can't understand how to use them.

The tilting Pendolino trains are the country's most advanced and have revolutionised the journey between Manchester and London.

But ever since the 125mph trains went into service in January 2003, passengers have struggled with the futuristic toilets, which have sliding doors and are operated by a panel of buttons.

Many people have been embarrassed after failing to lock the door properly - and then strangers having walk in on them. Others have hit the emergency button because they couldn't get out.

And in some cases, passengers stuck in the toilets have found their distress messages to the guard mistakenly broadcast to the entire train.

Now the rail operator has told transport chiefs it is looking to refit the toilets on its trains - which cost £11m each - to make them easier to operate.

Members of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority detailed the problems with the Pendolino toilets at a meeting this week.

Alarm

Paul Carter, a Stockport councillor, said: "I was coming back from London and the alarm was going off repeatedly because of people not knowing which button to press. At one point, the whole train was warned that it would stop if people kept pressing the alarm. But when I asked the train manager, he told me that it wasn't really that bad - and sometimes it is much worse.

"It is very confusing and something really ought to be done about it."

Coun Ian Duckworth, from Rochdale who is also on the PTA, said: "There is no need to ask where the toilets are on Pendolinos.

"You just follow your nose, because the smell is awful - and the stains on the carpet look absolutely terrible."

A Virgin spokesman said: "We are aware of this problem.

"The train managers can get a bit overstretched on this matter and we are looking at a refit of the signage and buttons in the toilets.

"It is an ongoing problem."

And she also revealed that engineers are working hard to solve the pungent reputation of the Pendolino toilets.

Smells

"There has been a lot of work done," she said.

"There is a special unit at the Longsight depot which experiments in how to alleviate the smells.

"The carpets do look unsightly but I can assure you that they are clean and we are looking at ways of preventing the stains."

The trains, which cut the Manchester to London journey time by half an hour when they were launched at the start of 2003, have struggled with toilet trouble since they were new.

Each carriage has an electronic `controlled emission toilet', which is emptied when a sensor tells engineers it is full.

But early in their careers, the train's screens were giving the wrong signal and engineers were sending them into service with full tanks.

Some trains were leaving with only one working toilet for the whole train until they were recalled, at the rate of five a week, for modifications.